The Indoor Kids

Listen To Us Marvel with…

Share:

The Indoor Kids #144: Listen To Us Marvel with Devin Faraci

Share:

Devin Faraci, one of our favorites, joins us to talk about gaming news, video game movies on the horizon, movie news, Archie comics news, the trouble with Kickstarter, and much more. Really. We pack a lot into this episode. And Matthew Burnside joins us for the whole episode.

Give Silicon Valley a chance! I haven’t seen it yet so can’t comment, but a lot of shows take a few episodes to get going. They need to explain the story and introduce the characters and whatnot. Parks and Recreation’s whole first season was pretty poor, and that show is awesome now.

… okay, we’re all entitled to our own opinion but this “David Elliot” character? His feelings regarding the shaping-up-to-be-my-favorite-new-show Silicon Valley? He actually has the wrong opinion. He found it guys! Let us all remark at his inability to watch TV correctly and then proceed to ignore him until the end of time. SV is great and Kumail’s knocking it outta the fuckin park. Here’s hoping you scroll right past the asshole next to me and see this comment instead!

Really fun episode guys. It was interesting to hear Devin Faraci’s opinions on things even if I don’t necessarily agree.

I enjoyed the new Captain America but I did not like the character of the Winter Soldier. I just couldn’t get past the look of his hair, it was so bad.

Plus Kickstarter is definitely a new frontier and people should tread carefully when choosing to back something. I only pledge the minimum amount of money to get the product that they are creating unless it’s more than $20 in which case I just don’t bother.

Having watched the first episode of Silicon Valley I’m liking what it’s shaping up to be. I like how the area is like Hollywood except that instead of everyone having a script idea, everyone has an app idea. I look forward to watching the rest of the season. Plus you really can’t judge a show based on the first episode. It’s all setup and isn’t necessarily what the majority of the show is going to be like.

Great episode. Devin’s one of your best recurring guests. I’m loving Silicon Valley so far. I laughed out loud a bunch at the second EP. I don’t get the criticism that it’s boring at all.

On DC vs. Marvel – the Marvel movies are great because they embrace what’s great about their characters and celebrate the concepts in full. DC has long seemed ashamed of their own creations and basically followed Watchmen and TDKR into some sort of deconstructed joyless mode. It’s a bummer.

On pro-wrestling – after the Benoit thing I swore I would never watch again but I’ve been pulled back in lately. It’s one of those things that you either dig or you don’t, I guess. At it’s best it combines good soap opera storytelling with exciting athletic exhibition. There really is an art to it. All the deaths and injuries and things over the years are indefensible but they do seem to have cleaned up their act lately.

On the movie/video game front; I was woefully disappointed by the Silent Hill movie. I thought with Christophe Gans, who did Brotherhood of the Wolf, which was dark, and moody and slow paced, that it would be knocked out of the park. Instead, it was just sort of a jumbly mess that used the tropes of the game, but not the pacing or characters. It was confusing and not great. I wouldn’t say I hated it, but I was certainly underwhelmed.

Also, I wonder if Emily ever saw Adam Jansen’s famous smoking picture from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. One look at this and “sploosh”.

The main reason why the Ultimate Warrior resonated with me as a child, even now, is that he was a living comic book come to life. The colour, his physique, his speeches was just so comic book at that time. He, Jim Helwig, protected this character by not diminishing it. Unlike, say, Hulk Hogan who was almost destroyed the legacy of what he did back in the 80s-90s.

I really do not see why wrestling would be taboo especially for fans of genre works. Yes, there was the boom period, but, when done well it is great storytelling of good vs evil with characters you can meet in real life. As Justin commented, there really is an incredible art to it. Not everyone can go out there and capture the hearts of an arena full of people

Great show guys. I’m pretty surprised that during your upcoming video game movie segment you didn’t mention The Last of Us movie. It’s encouraging that it’s being written by Neil Druckmann, but I’m still ambivalent about it. I love the game so much and I’m not sure how a 2 hour movie is going to be able to make the story as emotionally resonant. Interested to hear what you think about it.

Also, as a movie/comic book/video game geek and professional wrestling fan, I’d like to say a few words about what draws me towards this particular form of entertainment.

1. It’s a very unique form of storytelling. When you take two compelling characters and put them into a feud where you become emotionally invested in the outcome, and then allow them to tell another great story in the ring, the payoff can be just as satisfying as anything else on television. Obviously it doesn’t always work, but when it does, and two performers who have great chemistry come together with a well-written storyline, real magic happens. It’s terrific, and really unlike anything else.

2. Obviously since wrestling outcomes are predetermined, it’s not a combative sport like it pretends to be on the surface. But I would argue that it still is a sport, it’s just more akin to synchronized swimming or ballet/ballroom dancing. It’s not two performers facing off against each other, it’s two performers working together to put on an entertaining spectacle. It’s easy to dismiss wrestling as “fake,” but these guys (and girls) put their bodies through enormous amounts of punishment, pull off amazing, complicated physical stunts on live television with no safety net, and unlike other professional sports, there is no offseason. They do this stuff 300 days a year. They are really tremendous athletes.

3. You wondered why professional wrestling (specifically WWE) seems to be undergoing a kind of renaissance right now, the answer is simply that there are several really interesting and compelling characters that have risen to prominence recently. Daniel Bryan is the top star in wrestling right now and he looks more like the bass player in an indie rock band than a professional athlete. His rise from total afterthought to number one guy in the company has been really inspiring to watch, and has been propelled more by the fans than by the writers behind the scenes. The Wyatt Family are a psychotic hillbilly swamp cult that would not be out of place as the bad guys in a season of Justified. The Shield are like badass wrestling mercenaries. Paul Heyman gives 20 minute live monologues that would could not be pulled off by many legitimate Hollywood actors. HHH as his current evil corporate overlord character is one of the most hateable, compelling villains on television right now. The list goes on.

Well, this has kind of gotten away from me. I am not trying to convince you guys to watch wrestling, but you seemed confused as to why anyone would still enjoy it and I wanted to give my perspective on why I do. With wrestling it’s easy to focus on the bad; the silliness, the occasionally laughable acting, the ugly misogyny or toilet humour that is unfortunately still prevalent. But when wrestling is great, when it overcomes all that stuff and reaches these moments of storytelling transcendence, it’s the best thing ever. That’s all.

Hey Devin
Fu*k Yourself in the Face?
Yes.
I don’t mind a few spoilers but we don’t need you to come on here and recite the entire movie.
Also- Ashly Rae,Catherine McQueen,Karen Gillan all from Scotland.
Maybe check a mirror before you condemn a whole country.

I think Devin is a great guest and he knows his shit. Although I find his libtard tendencies rear their head on his website a bit too much for my liking. Especially his gag-inducing ‘tribute’ to Trayvon Martin.

Suggestion:
just put out 20 minute podcasts Kumail and Emily random riffing on weeks where you are busy and call them The Intro Kids. In the same feed, like how the Nerdist Comics podcasts are in the same feed as the Writer’s Panel. Your fans will know what is going on and you won’t have to explain it.
It makes more sense to me than putting up a rerun that will require a lot of explaining and many won’t want to listen to even if it’s good.
Anyway keep up the good work, just trying to help.

Another thing you gotta think about with cround-funding is that if the movie people fund turns out to be bad it would be the same as going to see any movie in the theater and expecting it to be good but it turns out to be bad. There will always be a chance for it to be bad and you just have to hope for the best. It will also push the producers to make better movies cause people will catch on if they are just taking their money and not delivering.